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Iwata implies he may resign over poor business performance
- Thread starter Cheesemeister
- Start date
Snkfanatic
Banned
This would be amazing news, they would make a ton of cash as well.
TDLink
Member
Exactly. Iwata resigning would be terrible and chances are pretty high that Nintendo would be worse off than better. Iwata is a very good president and CEO and with the Iwata Asks and Nintendo Directs he is easily the most transparent CEO in the entire industry. He comes from games, he knows games, and he puts out quality time and time again.
I just do not understand the people who are calling for his blood. Just because there hasn't been a new [insert whatever series you want here] in a while? The 3DS and Wii U launches were definitely botches (largely due to timing and lack of software) but he managed to turn the 3DS situation around and I can easily see him doing the same with Wii U. Overall he has been a terrific leader for Nintendo. The day he resigns will be a dark one for the industry.
I don't think they will hit 100 billion (though maybe I'll be wrong) this upcoming fiscal year but I think it will still be a very successful year anyways with stuff like Animal Crossing, Pokemon X/Y, an inevitable Wii U price cut, mario kart, the wind waker remake, monster hunter 4 + Pokemon pushing further 3ds sales, and who knows what else. Due to that I doubt he'll resign anyways (and hope he doesn't).
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Regardless of how things go for Nintendo from here on out, I keep getting a feeling that one day the people who complain the most about Nintendo doing everything wrong will get their wish. And then feel very sorry they did.
TDLink
Member
I'm struggling to figure out how Iwata is in any way equatable to those two. What has Iwata done that is so horrible? Why are you (And others) out for his blood?
Dem graphics, dude. They think Iwata is the only reason Nintendo had to take that route.
pants
Member
Hi, I'd like to introduce you to post Gamecube hardware.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
You funny! Actually, y'know what...
Masterballs used AVATAR QUOTE
It's super effective!
TDLink
Member
Iwata is not single-handedly responsible for deciding the power/specs of the hardware they release. Regardless, the Wii and DS both sold ridiculously well and the 3DS is looking like it may be on that path now as well. You can't really fault that strategy when it works. Besides, Nintendo's software output quality hasn't diminished. I don't see the specs being behind competitors as something that means we need to get rid of Iwata when it isn't even entirely his decision and everything else he does for the company is top notch.
One thing I think will certainly help him (as well as every CEO of Japanese company that have big interest in export) is how Yen exchange is going right now (and especially the Japanese government plans). That will greatily help them for profitability, so much that price cuts can be made.
lol
I think?
Really? Outside of Japan the 3DS is barely even selling 'well', never mind 'ridiculously well' and certainly not 'DS levels of well'.
Nintendo's hardware approach wasn't the only thing that changed with Iwata's leadership.
TDLink
Member
You're right. They also became more transparent as a company via things like Iwata Asks and communicate more with their fanbase on a frequent basis with Nintendo Directs. What other CEO in the industry does stuff like this?
pants
Member
Neither is Riccitiello the sole custodian of shit at EA (in fact he spared us a ton of this stuff early on) and neither is Wada the sole reason FFXIII and most things out of SEJapan are donkey balls. But change starts at the top.
MisterHero
Super Member
Whatever replacements Nintendo has for Iwata/Miyamoto are being trained by those two. When some of the people here are calling for CEO firings they're endorsing the ideas of investors, who probably have zero insight on Nintendo's products or the videogame market.
Two crappy launches doesn't erase the two successful launches and Nintendo's numerous software records set during this gen. They retained all those profits and didn't throw it away on expensive hardware; that IS the contingency. They're not going anywhere, thanks to not getting careless with their money.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
It's been a week and a few hours respectively, we'll see if this starts any sort of change.
metalslimer
Member
Well Sony has the PSblog which is much more of a fan communication than Directs. We dont even know when they are. Both Sony and MS are more transparent giving updates and community outreach which stems from having real western divisions instead of jokes like noa
InsaneZero
Member
No reasonably responsible person is going to look at the history of the loss-leading hardware model and the current costs of development and say "hey maybe THIS time we will buck decades of history and make billions in profit"
pants
Member
Well with SE at least we know a shift is coming in, with them selling their F2P games and setting cash aside for a management and development restructure.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
I mean, if this is really what you guys care about, you should root for them giving him a token marketing position or something. These are not important things relating to his actual job as a CEO.
TDLink
Member
The difference is EA has implemented numerous anti-consumer policies under Riccitello's tenure and under Wada Square's software output has slowed to a crawl. Both of those things, I think, are far worse and damning than Iwata allowing cheaper systems to be produced that appeal to a wider audience in order to dramatically increase profits.
No, but bizarrely their Wii U and 3DS software approach seems to have gone back to the Gamecube era. No longer are we seeing innovative new game-changers (Brain Training, Wii Sports, Wii Fit). We're back in the Gamecube era of Nintendo doing Nintendo games based on their safe IPs again, but with massive droughts in between.
It's like Nintendo learned nothing from GameCube, or Wii. NES and SNES were hugely popular (for their time) for a reason: great first party games and great third party support. They were never going to get the latter with the hardware they put out - it's one against two.
metalslimer
Member
Investors may be dumb, but that doesnt mean that the top of Nintendo is woefully unsuited for the current market and that has nothin to do with graphics. Nothing Iwata showed with Wiiu's launch shows any kind of grasp on the industry besides thinking mario mario mario is the key
I think it's time to accept that Iwata is NOT a "very good president and CEO." At least, not anymore. You don't get an indefinite fuck-up pass because of some successful choices you made almost a decade ago, especially when those successes are followed with back-to-back fuck-ups that almost RIVAL the successes.
Personally, I'm calling for Iwata's blood because, despite how "likable" he is, he just hasn't been any good for Nintendo lately. The gaming industry is changing more rapidly than ever, and now it's facing competition at even more fronts than before. I wouldn't want someone with ZERO understanding of what makes Nintendo special to take over; but at this point Nintendo NEEDS someone with an understanding of where the gaming industry is right now, where it's going, and exactly how to get Nintendo there. That man is no longer Iwata. To think otherwise is just fan delusion at this point.
And, as someone else has pointed out, if Nintendo hasn't been cultivating fresh young faces with vision who could serve as potential replacements and only Iwata is "capable" of running the company, that's not a good thing. That means that Nintendo's chain of command is more screwed than anyone realized.
Not even remotely close. The Wii U hasn't eradicated Nintendo's war chest, for one.
Any old EAD fan has already been dismayed by what the executIves have turned EAD into. Truly a shame.
People calling for Iwata's head. Well on that same certificate, Miyamoto is highly responsible for many of the recent managerial detriments.
pants
Member
And this is where we color our stances with our opinions. I don't care for Nintendo hardware as it is at the moment, I've played Fire Emblem and Monster Hunter (with a few others here and there) but apart from that the hardware actively diminished my enjoyment of games. With EA at least I could dodge their crap policies at the start of the gen and get some games I liked sans bullshit, so no Riccitiello was not worse for me, I in fact gained less from Nintendo.
I don't know, there are a lot of progessive things Nintendo is doing with Wii U. Social Media network, second screen integration with TV, Asymetric gameplay, big push on indie development and distribution, etc.
The problem is that they coupled those ideas with their widely successful Wii hardware model, and so the system is burdened by delievering those ideas on hardware that is woefully unoptimized and bottle necked by limitations.
Don't think so. The war chest may not have been diminished but the Wii U has potentially stunted its growth more than a little bit. That's almost as bad, especially for a publicly traded company.
The PS3 almost bled Sony dry, this is true, but there was enough there that it didn't completely destroy the Playstation brand (more than can be said for Wii), which allowed for the near-miraculous turnaround the PS3 has experienced. A turnaround that began, funny enough, when they sacked Ken Kutaragi.
Father_Brain
Banned
If Iwata takes much of NCL's management with him and isn't just made the sacrificial lamb, I'm fine with it, at least in theory.
Wii U's current situation is the culmination of every bad or short-sighted decision NCL made during the Wii era, and Iwata himself can't be accountable for all of that.
Wii U's current situation is the culmination of every bad or short-sighted decision NCL made during the Wii era, and Iwata himself can't be accountable for all of that.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Having played Galaxy, 3D Land, and looking at what New Leaf looks like, I'll have to strongly and vehemently disagree with you.
InsaneZero
Member
Then you should be calling for Genyo Takeda's head instead. Regardless, Nintendo will not follow in high-powered hardware simply because the cost of doing so is just far too great for a small company to risk.
metalslimer
Member
Yep they all need to go.
Low powered hardware is one of the least of their problems
airmangataosenai
Member
360?
A Link to the Past
Banned
Masahiro Sakurai replaces him, and Iwata resigns and does work exclusively for Iwata Asks.
TDLink
Member
I am not saying Sony and Microsoft don't communicate as well but stuff like the PS Blog isn't even close to the level the Directs are at. The Nintendo Directs are treated like mini conferences with all the major game journalism sites giving them coverage and people on fan forums getting "Hyped up". People are not equally excited for the next PS Blog post and that is why the Directs are brilliant.
You don't get an indefinite fuck-up pass but you can also excuse a couple and the way I see it there have only been a couple. What has he fucked-up other than the 3DS and Wii U launches? Yeah both were pretty bad but one is now drastically turning around and the other has upcoming software that has it poised to potentially do the same thing with a much quicker about face.
It isn't "fan delusion" to think Iwata is good where he is at Nintendo and that the company as a whole continues to be what it is because he is at the helm opposed to someone like a Kotick or Riccitello. I am sure Iwata has been cultivating a successor but if shareholders force him out who is to say that successor is who becomes CEO? Iwata is not nearly old enough to need to retire and he is still doing good at the company. It makes no sense to get rid of him other than to make some shareholders happy in the extreme short term.
Nintendo's hardware under Iwata has overall been ridiculously more profitable than it was before he took the reigns. Nintendo's software (the more important part, imo) under Iwata has remained at a consistently high quality. If you don't like what Nintendo puts out that is perfectly fine but they are still producing quality games and Iwata should not be fired just because they aren't making them for a level above what their hardware supports.
Well, look at that, you where right, just read the last few comments: some people are just mad that Nintendo didn't go all the way out with MOAR POWAR!. You know, like the last time, when they where surpassed even by the new kid in the block.
EAD Tokyo is all that's left, really. Tokyo is the only team that can get me legitimately excited for a game anymore.
EAD Tokyo is the one shining exception. Even then, the Tokyo Deparment hasn't been able to flourish as many as we hoped for when Nintendo attempted to capitalize R&D expansion in Tokyo. The brunt Kyoto force has been transformed into a sequel factory without pushing the bill much on those respective series.
The horrible 3DS and Wii U launches fall heavily on Miyamoto's management and decision making of the departments games.
InsaneZero
Member
Microsoft can afford to pull off that kind of thing because they have other departments to pick up the slack. Nintendo, a purely gaming-focused company, does not.
Superb job at what? Failing to sell the Wii U to consumers? Failing to get third party developpers on board for their AAA games? Failing to make hardware powerful enough to interest both groups?
frankie_baby
Member
Most public companies dont even have a 'war chest' as any cash piles are outweighed by debt, nintendo has no debt and a huge pile of cash, sure it hasnt grown for a year or so but one bad year after dozens of good years aint bad goingb
Sakurai is the one Nintendo employee that's bound to turn it down and quit Nintendo first if anyone at all at this point.
Why would you do that?
Member
I can agree that EAD isn't as great as they were in the '90s, but I am enjoying their current output much more than their games in the early '00s before they restructured.
This is the most eloquent way of explaining why Iwata isn't to be just chucked into the flames yet, good job. At the same time, he absolutely NEEDS to make the most aggressive and forward thinking (the biggest key here) moves possible if he wants his mind share among the people following Nintendo (like his shareholders and much of GAF) to rise. Once you give off the aura of weakness, the vultures do everything they can to get a piece of that ass.
With the way Sakurai's health has been looking, I'm not sure even more stress would be beneficial in any way.
InsaneZero
Member
Yes, but it's one of those issues that people on the internet keep talking about, as evidenced by this thread.